The present invention relates to poultry harvesters.
GB Patent 2205917 (National Research Development Corporation) discloses poultry harvesters in which a conveyor belt transfers birds from a poultry-handling assembly at the front of the harvester to an end location at the back of the harvester.
In harvesters of this type, the poultry-handling assembly comprises two inwardly and outwardly counter-rotating poultry pick-up rotors arranged side-by-side with a continuous array of flexible bird-engaging guide elements on each rotor, abutting and/or intermeshing with the guide elements on the other rotor. The pick-up rotors at the front of the harvester function to pick up birds from the floor and transfer them into the harvester.
Stationary walls flank the sides of the conveyor tn order to prevent the escape of the birds travelling along the conveyor, and it is known to have barrier combs extending from the side walls of the conveyor to interdigitate with the guide elements of the pick-up rotors. These combs ensure that the birds are removed from the poultry-handling assembly onto the conveyor. If these combs were not fitted, there would be a possibility of the birds continuing round the pick-up rotors and being ejected from the sides of the pick-up rotors.
The combs used to date consist of columns of straight rigid teeth which point forwardly into the associated pick-up rotors and are positioned accurately between the rows of flexible guide elements projecting from the cores of the rotors. The distal ends of the teeth end as close as possible to the cores of the rotors. It is a drawback of this design, however, that if the comb teeth become out of position so that they will no longer function correctly, the birds can become trapped between the pick-up rotors and the side walls, resulting tn the blockage of the machine and the likelihood of injury to the birds. Similar problems can occur when pick-up rotors are used at the rear of the harvester to discharge birds from the conveyor.